Some genetic gifts make some swimmers that are like really natural Breaststroke. Coaches, I’m sure you all can say yeah I’ve had that one where it’s just like it clicks for them. And a lot of that’s just due to some genetics you’ll have flexible ankles, knees, and hips, things that will just help them set up, way higher and better than someone else, you have to teach that full movement to. I have a kid here, who did not know how to point his toes or flex his feet out and point his toes in his Breaststroke kick. It took us a long long long long time to finally get him to understand the feeling of putting the toes away from the body, and what that should feel like not just on land but in the water, right, it was just literally a week ago, I was sitting on the block. Watching above his lane, and he was kicking Breaststroke and it was right that I was like, Oh my gosh, this has been such a headache, and I’ve tried everything in the book. I’ve Googled every single drill, and I tried to be as patient as I can, but at the same time, I want this kid to do well. He finished his 25 and I was like, “Hey, your Breastroke kick is fixed,” and he was like, “yeah ever since you told me to kick with sandals on,” I figured it out. So, it was a very exciting moment for me to know that like A, I did something that helped him and B, not only did it change in that instance, but it’s something that’s like stuck with him. So now he knows how to kick Breaststroke, but I’m sure we’ve all had those two kinds of opposite ends of the spectrum where you get the natural Breaststroker, and then you get that unnatural Breaststroker where you’re just like, alright, we’re going to have to go to the drawing board and figure this out because every single kid learns a little bit differently, but we have to do what’s best for them.
